“BLUE 80, BLUE 80, HUT!!!”
As a freshman surrounded by a team consisting of mostly of seniors and juniors with the physical complexion of professional NFL players it wasn’t easy to make a contribution to the team, or so I thought. I may not have had the strength nor speed that these enormous running backs, linebackers, nor receivers had. But I did have a bigger heart than all of them, after being tackled by the sweaty, muscular 200 pound linebackers I refused to stay down. There were only a couple of other freshman’s who showed up to practice, all of them called me bezerk for running the ball when those giant linebackers were awaiting me to demolish me on the field. I had the heart of a lion, I fought till I fell. I recall this specific play in which I played as running back and my task was to run through a small, tight creek and run as if my feet were on fire. As simple as it may sounds, this play had not yet been perfected, even by the first string running backs. I was on, weighing in at 125 pounds, standing at 5’5, with the appearance of one of those poor men stranded at sea after 30 days, but with the face of a soldier ready to go to war. The benching freshman, well the very few that even attended practice stood there frozen as if they had just seen a ghost. As I held the ball in my hands, I felt the tension within me, simply awaiting the quarterbacks signal to run the play. Then in a snap I was on the run, I saw the small creek and with the explosion of adrenaline I had I bolted through it. It was an open field, I made it through what I considered the war zone, and made it to the end zone. I stayed mostly on offense, I decided to try some reciever plays. To my surprise my size was of benefit to me since I was easily able to slip away from cornerbacks and linebackers, I had what many on the team called “hands”. I loved hearing the air swoosh as I ran, I fell in love with the feeling of the ball in my hands while in mid-air. The defensive coach decided me to run plays as cornerback, which as I predicted I wasn’t very skilled at due to my size, I was able to catch up with all the receivers in fact although they were able to execute passes, they weren’t able to fulfill them. Which is something the defensive coach noticed, he placed me as a safety. Due to my impressive speed, running after my teammates and tackling them wasn’t a problem, due to my size I developed a technique to bring down these charging bulls. By this time only I and another freshman stayed on the team, we stood strong through it all. It was game day the upcoming day, we received our jersey which were to be worn the next day at school and at the field. There I stood, standing proud, wearing my jersey as if it were an olympic medal in the gleaming lights that illuminated the field. I was on, running a play, although my run was put to an end I had accumulated a 64 yard rush. The game ended at 29-13, with us winning. Although I didn’t score any touchdowns, I left the field with 92 rushing yards, 56 passing yards, 8 tackles and 1 interception. I will never forget the summer of 2012 in which I realized that no matter how small you are, you’ll always be of great contributions to everything you set your mind to.
Points: 635
Reviews: 5
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